Never mind “repetitive beats”, a keystone of the infamous 1994 Criminal Justice Act that effectively banned raving in fields, the story of UK clubland has also been told again and again, lionising a very British cultural phenomenon. It usually goes like this: in 1987, a coterie of UK DJs went to Ibiza and came back transformed by Balearic dancefloor sounds and MDMA. Paul Oakenfold, Johnny Walker, Danny Rampling and Nicky Holloway returned and founded acid house. Raves, the Haçienda and the rise of the superstar DJ followed.
This origin myth glorifying four white men may be true, argues journalist, documentarian and club enthusiast Ed Gillett, but the Ibiza Four legend disregards the fertile soil in which their endeavours took root: one of free parties, Black blues dances and hippy convoys. It was an anti-authoritarian, pleasure-seeking tendency now, 35 years later, corralled into “cultural economy” mega-clubs run by, and for, the more privileged.
